Protest against student loans. Photo Dutchmen Photography/Shutterstock Interest rates for new students and graduates will amount to respectively 0.46 en 1.78 per cent as of January. The Prime Minister is not in favour of an interest cap for now.
During the General Debates in the Senate, the PvdA and Partij voor de Dieren voiced concerns over the increasing interest rates on student debt. ‘The current rate of inflation and international developments could easily increase the interest rates to ten per cent,’ said PvdA-senator Mei Li Vos, addressing Prime Minister Rutte. Is the government prepared to apply an interest cap should this situation arise?
If interest rates become unreasonably high, ‘we will have to discuss it’, Rutte replied. He added: ‘But here, too, the fact is that if you change this, it will cost money.’
Does the Prime Minister see any other options to assist students who did not receive a basic grant, PvdD senator Niko Koffeman inquired? ‘No, absolutely not’, Rutte replied vehemently. ‘From a personal perspective, the whole loan system was fine’, he added. ‘If you are on welfare, you don’t need to pay back your loan, and the debt is forgiven after a number of years. If you make good money, you repay according to income. Quite leftist, really. So, I never really understood the objections against the loan system. I always considered it very social.’
